The final six kilometres of the 145 kilometre Pacific Highway upgrade between Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour is now open to traffic.

Projects

About the Pacific Highway upgrade

The Australian and NSW governments have been jointly upgrading the Pacific Highway to provide a four lane divided road from Hexham to Queensland. Upgrading started in 1996 and 2020 has been identified as the targeted completion.

The Pacific Highway Program Office will deliver the Pacific Highway upgrade and the Grafton Bridge second crossing project.

Current status

Currently about 81% of the 657 kilometre Pacific Highway between Hexham and the Queensland border are now four lane divided road. The remaining sections are under construction or being prepared for major work.

Woolgoolga to Ballina - The Woolgoolga to Glenugie upgrade (26 kms) opened to traffic in October 2017, the remaining 129 kms is expected to open by 2020

Benefits

Upgrading new sections and carrying out safety improvements to the existing highway have brought major improvements to road conditions.

These improvements support regional development and provide:

Safer travel

Reduced travel times with improved transport efficiency

More consistent and reliable travel

Improved amenity for local communities.

Signage on the Pacific Highway

Roads and Maritime is responsible for authorising, installing, maintaining and removing signs on State roads such as the Pacific Highway.

As part of the Pacific Highway upgrade, many towns become bypassed in the process of delivering a safe and efficient dual carriageway for motorists. We are committed to working with these bypassed communities to provide adequate signage to encourage tourists and road users more generally to visit those towns.

Construction workforce studies

We have carried out research to profile the construction workforce on the Pacific Highway upgrade on the North Coast between Port Macquarie and Ballina. The research objective was to better understand the number of local and relocated workers, where they live, and the services they use in local communities while they work on the upgrade.